


Magic Man

by EntreNous



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Angst, Drunk Sex, M/M, Manipulation, Post Break Up, Post: s06e16 Hells Bells, Sex Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-03-06
Updated: 2007-03-06
Packaged: 2017-12-13 06:12:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/820949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EntreNous/pseuds/EntreNous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after "Hells Bells".  Xander thinks he's got nothing to give, but he may have more to offer than he imagines.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Magic Man

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Lindsey round at [maleslashminis](http://maleslashminis.livejournal.com/).

"Don't you think you've had enough?" the bartender asked Xander.

He squinted and then rubbed the back of his head. "What?" It wasn’t a question he’d expected to hear. In fact, he’d picked this dive just so he could get sloshed where no one would care enough to ask him anything like that.

Well, okay, he’d picked this dive because it was near the roach trap of a motel he’d checked into after leaving Anya at the altar and Sunnydale in the dust. Either way, the three or four lushes camped out on stools like they lived there, the flickering bulbs in the men’s, and the peeling paint on the walls in the main room, didn’t really add up to a place where everybody knows your name.

Still, the bartender was waiting for an answer. So Xander helpfully pushed his glass closer, aiming to get it below the bottle poised in the air. "Nope, definitely not. Haven’t had anywhere near enough." He licked his lips, eyes on the whiskey.

"That's it. I'm cutting you off," the man said. He picked up the glass and walked away.

"What? No way. That is so not fair," Xander grumbled. He reached up to loosen his bow tie, and found that he’d already gotten rid of it at some point. "I'm not driving or anything, and I'm just staying . . . staying . . ." He pointed up, and then to the right, indicating his motel which was somewhere that-a-way. "Close by," he concluded.

"Give the kid a break," an old drunk in the corner rasped out. "He looks like he could use it."

"Thank you," Xander said, pointing at him. "See?" Then he stared, because it looked like the drunk was wearing Xander’s rented tuxedo jacket.

But the bartender just shook his head, grabbing a rag to mop at the bar top. “He looks like he could use a good night’s sleep.”

“Yeah, that’s something I’m not going to be getting anytime soon,” Xander shot back.

Someone next to Xander laughed. "Well, been a pleasure, but I’m going to have to move along.”

Xander turned in the direction of the voice, staring at the young man wearing a worn leather jacket and cowboy boots, now on his feet next to him. To say he didn’t fit in with this crowd in this joint was to aim at the lowest rung on the understatement ladder. He looked like a guy Cordelia Chase would have described as convertible-worthy back in high school -- more than a touch of the bad boy to his wide smile, with just enough sensitive guy gleaming in his light blue eyes. Hell, he looked like a guy Buffy would straighten up for at the Bronze now, leaning forward to ask in a breathless voice if her hair was a total mess when he passed by.

"Where'd you come from?" he asked wonderingly.

When the bartender handed the man his change, he slapped a wad of ones back down as tip. “See, now, you’ve got to pay better attention.” But instead of walking away, he hooked one boot on the rung along the bottom of the bar. “Now, I sure as hell noticed you. But I guess you've been crying into your beer too much to see me sitting right next to you the whole time."

"Hey," Xander objected. "That was whiskey, not beer."

The other man’s eyes crinkled as he leaned on the counter. "Whiskey, huh? You’re one hard-drinking man, uh . . .”

“Xander,” he supplied.

“Xander,” the man repeated. It sounded much better the way he said it. “So, Xander, you have much of anything for dinner before you came in here to drown your sorrows?”

Xander patted down his unbuttoned over-shirt and tried to think. "Um. There was a, you know, cheese ball and veggie plate at the lodge before the ceremony. With crackers." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Nine -- no, ten hours ago?"

The man laughed. "Trust me, way you've been going, you need to eat something soon. What say I spring for some food for both of us? I need something in my stomach, too."

Xander leaned his head on his hand while he thought, and then picked his cuff links out of the small bowl of gluey mixed-nuts in front of him. “I don’t know you,” he said finally.

“Lindsey,” the other guy said.

“Well, sure, Lindsey, but that’s just a name,” Xander argued.

Lindsey slung an arm around his shoulder. “What are you going to do, Xander? Stay here, keep on slinging back shots? Go back to that by-the-hour room, pass out on the bed with your clothes on so you don’t get bit by the bugs in the mattress?”

“Well,” Xander began. That had pretty much been his two-point plan.

“Or instead, you could come with me, get something to eat, have someone to tell your troubles to.”

Xander rubbed his eyes. “You’re not a vampire or some kind of wacky man-eating demon, are you?”

Lindsey’s laugh was hard. “Son, I’m about as far from a vampire as you’re going to get.”

Somehow, when Xander raised his head and looked into those blue eyes, he believed him.

* * *

Xander stumbled a little when they left the tavern, but managed to climb into his new friend's truck without falling, which he counted as a personal win. "What'd you say your name was again?" he asked after they went through the first intersection.

The man flashed him another grin. "Lindsey. You like pancakes?"

Xander blinked. "Who _doesn't_ like pancakes?"

So five minutes later, they were seated in a duct-tape patched leatherette booth at some twenty-four hour place called The Rise and Shine. When their pancakes came, they both dug in, spreading butter and pouring syrup to the accompaniment of the murmurings of other conversations and of knives and forks scraping against plates.

“Thanks,” Xander said after half of his stack was gone.

Lindsey waved a fork in the air in a dismissive gesture.

He was starting to feel better as he cleared his plate, like the starch had gone down to his stomach to soak up all the alcohol. Not normal, not yet, but not like he was going down under the tide of drink after drink.

“Should probably drop you off back at your motel,” Lindsey drawled.

“Yeah.” He gulped the rest of his water, and then, after Lindsey nudged his plastic cup over, drank Lindsey’s as well.

Lindsey folded his arms and leaned forward on them. “Should probably make sure you’re on your way to sober, too.”

“Probably,” Xander agreed reluctantly.

Lindsey cocked his head to the side. “You want to keep on for a little while longer?”

Xander shut his eyes against the fluorescent fixtures of The Rise and Shine. “Yeah,” he said finally.

Lindsey threw some money on the table, and stood. “Come on, then.”

* * *

The place Lindsey was staying was obviously way nicer than Xander’s from the get-go. They’d gone through a lobby, complete with gleaming Italian marble and a crystal-dripping chandelier, and ridden some thirty flights to get to Lindsey’s suite.

“Hey, I should have just come here first,” Xander blurted when he saw the gleaming bar set up in the corner of the living room.

“Probably should have,” Lindsey agreed. “Whiskey I’ve got will put the swill you were drinking back at Luke’s to shame. You take it neat?”

“I take it however I can get it,” Xander replied. When Lindsey put the glass into his hand, he gulped gratefully.

“So you’re not an aficionado of the stuff, then,” Lindsey said.

Xander felt his brow furrow. “Not unless aficionado means that I just started drinking it today.”

Lindsey barked a laugh. “By the way, nice cummerbund. Looks to be a little tight, though.”

“What? Oh, right,” Xander said, looking down and reaching to unhook it. He paused when he had it in his hands, remembering how Buffy had helped him put it on, back when he’d been worried only about remembering his vows and keeping his parents away from the bar.

“You want to talk?” Lindsey asked as he sat down. He kicked off his boots and gazed at Xander with heavy-lidded eyes.

“Not really,” Xander said.

Lindsey smiled, slow and sure, and patted the couch next to him.

“So, you in town on business, or something?” Xander asked as he took a seat.

“Business, yeah. Always business.” Lindsey reached over to top off Xander’s drink.

Xander took a sip and exhaled. Yeah, he wasn’t one to judge quality in something he’d never tried much of before, but Lindsey was right. This was way better than what he’d been drinking before.

“Kind of hot in here,” Lindsey noted. He pulled off his flannel shirt, leaving on a brown t-shirt with a swirl of an intricate looking logo on the front.

“Is,” Xander agreed, sliding off his over shirt.

Soon Lindsey started talking about some traveling he’d been doing for the last year or so. All business, Xander assumed; at any rate, he couldn’t really keep track of all the details with the warm buzz of the whiskey keeping him buoyed up in a hazy place.

Drink followed drink, and story followed story, until suddenly Xander started as Lindsey leaned over and nuzzled his neck.

“Hey,” he said, and then laughed. “I, uh . . . I’m not really . . .”

“Come on,” Lindsey said in a low voice. “You’ll like it, I promise.”

Xander shivered as Lindsey kissed his jaw line. “I’m -- I have a --” He choked on nothing at all when he realized that no, he wasn’t, and he didn’t -- he wasn’t engaged any longer, and there was no fiancée, no girlfriend, nothing except for him, pieces of a costume that he hadn’t worn well in the first place scattered along the path he’d taken, and the drink he was currently holding in his hand.

“It’s okay,” Lindsey whispered He took the glass out of Xander’s grip, and then they were kissing.

It was all wrong, flat where there should have been curves, stubble against a face that should have been smooth, hard muscle where Xander was used to softness. But when he heard a needy sound, he realized it had come from him, and he gasped into the kiss.

They were tumbling, falling along what felt like a long drop, but when Xander reached to feel the surface, they had only ended up stretched out on the couch.

“God, you feel good,” Lindsey murmured. He rubbed the palm of his hand over Xander’s chest and twisted around until he was lying on top. “Unexpected bonus, but I’ll take it.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Xander breathed out. He could feel Lindsey’s erection pushed against his through the layers of fabric.

“Don’t worry about it, baby; I’ll take care of everything,” Lindsey said. He leaned back, straddling Xander as he undid and pulled first his and then Xander’s belt off. Then he dove back down, mouthing along the hem of Xander’s un-tucked t-shirt, pushing it up that way until his tongue was flicking further up, making Xander arch his back and grunt.

This time, when Xander could feel Lindsey hard against him, he bit his lip and moved until their groins were aligned.

“Catch on quick, don’t you?” Lindsey growled. He juddered forward, wrenching fabric up until he’d tugged off first Xander’s t-shirt then his own. As he slid his mouth back on Xander’s skin, he muttered, “That’s it, there’s the spark, can feel it, right there. . .”

The words didn’t make sense, but Xander didn’t have time to think about that, because he was too busy grasping Lindsey’s hips and trying to keep from rolling off the couch when he felt the dampness from Lindsey’s cock through his pants. Part of him wanted to keep going just like this, strands of Lindsey’s hair silky where they brushed against his cheek, Lindsey’s breath hot against his skin as he moved his lips over Xander’s neck and torso. Another part of him wanted to struggle and make it out the door, run like hell until he’d gone back home and explained to everyone how sorry he was, so sorry, god, he was so sorry, sorry, sorry . . .

“Wait . . .” Lindsey maneuvered until he was pushing down Xander’s tuxedo pants and his jeans, Xander’s boxers tangled along with them, until they were naked against each other.

And that was enough to switch Xander’s train of thought back over to the track of wanting this so much that his chest hurt.

“Want to fuck me?” Lindsey hissed, wrapping his hand around the base of Xander’s prick. “Come on, now. Got to feel you inside of me.”

“Uh . . .” Not that Xander had thought it through much, but Lindsey seemed like he’d rather be the guy pitching. But Lindsey was watching him, waiting, and those piercing blue eyes were sharp on his face. “Yeah, okay,” he followed up quickly.

Now when they stumbled together, it was towards the bedroom down the hall, dark and silent. The king-sized bed was too big to miss, and moments later Xander was lying on his back, watching while Lindsey moved fingers behind himself, rolling his hips and moaning as his actions sped up.

“Here we go,” Lindsey panted as he rolled a condom on Xander’s cock. He held the base as he sank down onto it, shuddering with a grin on his face as he reached bottom. “Damn, that’s nice,” he said softly, his eyes fluttering closed. “Can feel it already. Guess I lucked out when I ran into you, huh?”

Xander shook his head in a daze. Lindsey was hot and tight around him, and he was supposed to answer . . .“Huh?”

“You just hang on,” Lindsey whispered. “Going for a ride, here.”

Xander’s hands rose automatically to grip Lindsey’s hips as Lindsey rose and fell onto him. “Oh god,” he mouthed as Lindsey changed the angle and pace. “Oh god, that’s . . .”

“Inside, right there, . . . that’s right, let me pull it in. . .fuck!” Lindsey’s fist moved over his cock with hard strokes. His rise and fall started to feel more like harsh jerking, pulses of energy that seemed tangible in the air around them.

“Oh god,” Xander moaned as that familiar feeling flew up from the base of his spine and his balls drew up. But it wasn’t just that hard rush of pleasure he was used to; it felt amazing, but it hurt too, like Lindsey was ripping something from him. “What are you doing?” he asked in panic, but Lindsey pressed down on Xander’s chest with splayed fingers, moving faster and faster until he made a strangled noise and came.

As soon as Lindsey tightened around him, it was over. Xander saw white as he shot, though whether it was before or after he closed his eyes he couldn’t say.

* * *

When he struggled to sit up what felt like hours later, Lindsey was walking back into the room, checking the button front of his shirt while he ran a hand through his hair.

Xander raised himself on his elbows, groggy and exhausted.

“Well, been a pleasure, but I’m going to have to move along,” Lindsey said.

“Business,” Xander croaked.

“All business,” Lindsey said, and grinned. “You’re welcome to stay, long as you need to.”

Xander swallowed. His tongue felt thick and heavy, but he managed to get it moving. “What the hell was that, then? When we . . . I felt something, something wrong. That about business too?”

Lindsey looked thoughtful, and then shrugged. “Yeah, you could say that. I mean, I don’t know what happened to you, but I could feel it when I walked into the bar.” He laughed. “Hell, could taste it in the air miles off. I pulled into town looking for it, but couldn’t find a damn thing for searching at first. But once I got close to you. . . well, you were buzzing with it.”

“With . . . what are you talking about?” Xander shifted, pulling the sheets up to cover him from Lindsey’s stare.

Lindsey’s eyes glittered. “Magic. All over you, thick and heavy.”

Xander wrapped his arms around himself.

“Now, magic happens to be something I’m collecting these days,” Lindsey continued.

“I don’t have any magic,” Xander said slowly.

Lindsey sighed. “Like I said, I don’t know what went down before you came here. Not saying you can work magic yourself, but even if someone’s just been in the thick of it, well, there are remnants. Usually just a little bit, clinging to them like dust, the kind you have to grab fast and use right away before it fades. But you . . . ” Lindsey swept his gaze over Xander. “You were hot with it when I saw you; radioactive, practically.”

Xander gaped at him. “And you wanted that.”

“Needed it,” Lindsey corrected him. “Took it,” he added, after a pause.

“Christ,” Xander mouthed. He brought his hands to cover his face. “I have to go back,” he said.

“Hey, not like I didn’t enjoy it,” Lindsey said. “I mean, I’ll do what it takes to build this up in me, but that really was a pleasure. I meant what I said: I was lucky it was you.” He touched his hand to his forehead, and Xander had the absurd and sudden vision of Lindsey tipping a hat to him. “And you, the way you were sending out those signals, sitting there ready and ripe like that, well. You were lucky it was me.”

After Lindsey left, Xander sat in the dark for a long while. He felt like there was a hole in his chest. And there was nowhere to go but home.


End file.
